Player Appearance: Blake Griffin

Last Saturday I went on a journey that landed me not one, not two, but three autographs. That first auto was from Hall of Famer Tony Gwynn and I had to drive 150 miles away to San Diego to get it. I got the next two in Downtown LA on my way home. LA Clippers All-Star Forward Blake Griffin and Skateboarder Rob Dyrdek both were signing at the Los Angeles Auto show at the Convention Center.

Tony Gwynn's appearance was scheduled for 9:00 am and my friends and I were at the front of the line. Tony began signing right away so we were able to leave San Diego at 9:30. We still had a chance to get to LA for the 1:00pm Blake Griffin appearance. While on the freeway heading home, we were getting updates from my buddy Alex who was already at the Convention Center waiting in line for Griffin. He told us there were only 10 people in line. Things were looking good.

It took us about two and a half hours to get to the Convention Center. When we arrived, we were about twentieth in line and it was an hour before the signing. The four of us got wristbands and we were told Blake wouldn't sign any outside items but he would take a picture with us. Kia Motors was giving away 8x10 pictures for him to sign, plus certificates of authenticity from Panini.

Once 1:00 rolled around, we were told Blake was running late. He finally showed up at 1:15 and started signing right away. When I got to the front of the line he signed the Kia picture for me and posed for a pic. He asked me if I was having a good time at the auto show and I moved on.

While we there we saw Jesse from Los Angeles Inspiration, and he informed us that Skateboarder and "Fantasy Factory" star Rob Dyrdek was signing at the Chevy booth. We all headed over there and got that auto as well.

Overall I'd say I had a great day. I got one HOFers auto, one NBA superstar's auto and a third auto from a pretty famous skateboarder. Not bad if you ask me.

Player Appearance: Tony Gwynn

Yesterday I had one of those rare days where I went from one location to another and got more than one autograph. I actually was able to get three autographs yesterday.  The first one I got was 150 miles away in San Diego from Hall of Famer Tony Gwynn. The other two, Clippers Forward Blake Griffin and Skateboarder Rob Dyrdek, were at the Los Angeles Auto Show. I'll share my experience with Mr. Gwynn today and move onto Griffin and Dyrdek later.

Former San Diego Padres All-Star and Hall of Famer Tony Gwynn made an appearance yesterday at El Cajon  Ford. He was scheduled to meet fans and sign autographs from 9-10:00 am. 

I made my 150 mile journey from the San Fernando Valley down to El Cajon with three friends early Saturday morning. It took us about 2 hours to get down there. Surprisingly, there were only two other people waiting in line when we arrived.

While we were there, my buddy Alex was giving me updates from the Los Angeles Convention Center where Blake Griffin was scheduled to sign at 1:00pm. That too was a surprisingly short line.

Mr. Gwynn arrived about 15 minutes early and started signing right at 9:00. I had heard some horror stories about Tony being snappy at past events. When I got to the signing table he was very friendly, autographing my baseball and was even joking around. But sure enough, the guy behind me got him upset. The gentleman behind me had a picture of Tony in a San Diego State basketball uniform and Tony wanted to know where he got it. The guy said he bought it from someone in line and before you knew it, Tony was out of his seat wondering who the guy was. After this person was pointed out, Tony made it clear he didn't want any of his pictures sold there because it was theft. The General Manager at the dealership even announced it over the loudspeaker. The whole ordeal had us all laughing.

When we left the Ford dealership, I got another update from Alex at the Convention Center, and there were just five people there in line. Maybe we had a chance to get Blake Griffin's auto too? So we got on the freeway and hauled ass to Downtown LA. As I already mentioned, we did get Blake's autograph, but I'll save that for another day.